Marking device.



Nn. 686,692. Patented Nov. l2, |901.

W. R. MORSE.

MARKING DEVICE.

y (Application led Jan. 3, 1899. Renewed Apr. 181901.) (no Modal.) 2 sheets-sheet Patented Nov. I2, |90l.

W. R. MORSE. MARKING DEVICE. (Application flled Jan. 3, 1899. Renewed Apr. 18, 1901.)

2 Sheets- Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

i: e 1:2, 4 .w

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UNITED STATES PATENT l EEICE'.

WILLIAM R. MORSE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.;

MARKING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letterslatent No. 686,692, dated November 12, 1901'. Application filed January 3, 1899. Renewed April 18, 1901. Serial No. 56,406 (No mcdel.)

To all whom "it may concern):

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. MORSE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county'of Cook and lState of Illinois, have invented a certain'new and useful Improvement in Marking Devices, of which the following is a specification. .l

My invention relates to marking devices, and has for its object to provide a new and improved marking'device particularly adapted for marking wearing-apparel in laundries and the like, so that the apparel of different customers will not become confused. A

Myinvention is illustrated in the accom pa'- nying .drawings,'wherein Figure l is a plan "view, with parts 0mittcd,ot`adeviceembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectionon line 2 2, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a. section through the su pporting device for the article to be marked. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section with parts omitted on line v4 4, Fig. l. Fig. is a section on line 5.5, Fig. 4. Fig. G is a view of the tool used to control the marking-bars. Fig. 7 is a cross-section-through one'of the marking-bars. Fig. S is a view showing the foot-treadle for Inoving the part upon which the article to be marked is placed. v

Likeletters refer to like parts throughout the several'figures.

"In operating laundrie's it is necessaryt o provide some means for marking the articles of different people, so that theycanbe returned to their owners after being passed through the laundry. IIeretofore it has been customary to mark. these articles by hand with indelible ink. This hand-marking was made necessary by the conditions to be Inet; an'd the object of my invention is to provide a machine capable of overcoming the diiiieulties attending such' marking and which will obviate the necessity of marking by hand.A

I have illustrated one form of my device in the accompanying drawings in a simple and diagrammatic manner with a View of making my invention cleargbut it isof course evident that the form construction, and arrangemy invention. I therefore do not limit myself to-the constructionshown.-'Y

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, l have shown a series of marking-bars A, suitably mounted, so that theymay be moved in and out-,the bars being provided with any demoved back and forth, so that|any one of the characters may be moved opposite the article to be marked. As herein shoimi these bars rest upon the supporting device B, mounted upon a suitable table D, and are confined laterally by the side pieces B'. I prefer to separate the several bars by the thin stationary pieces B2, so that the several bars will be independent of each other. ing device B is used, it is cutaway, as shown, for example, at B3, Fig. 4, so that the charac-- ters on thel severall bars may be exposed through this opening or cutfaway place. Opposite this opening B3 is the opposed surface C, upon which the article to be marked is placed. The characters on the marking-bars and the opposed surface C are adapted to be moved relatively, so that the article to be marked and the characters may be brought into contact with each other. Any suitable means for this purpose may be employed. As herein shown, the opposed surface C is connected with a movable part C, mounted on a suitable guide associated with the table D, and is adapted tobe moved upwardly to ward the characters on the markingLbars.

This movement maybe obtained in any desired manner-as, for example, by means of f an ordinarylever C2 and foot-treadle. (See Fig'. 8.) The opposed surface C is preferably made of some material adapted to give, so as to compensate for the inequalities or unevenness of the surface of vthe material to bo marked. I prefer to form this `opposed surface of soft rubber-or the like. As illustrated in Fig. 3, thc soft rubber C rests upon the These bars are mounted in any desired manner and are adapted to be When the support-v IOC part C, and a suitable adjusting device is provided, so that the opposed surface C may be adjusted to be substantially parallel with 1 the faces of the characters on the markingbars. As herein shown, this adjustment is obtained by means of the thumb-screw C4. A suitable in'king device is provided, so that the characters when they are brought opposite the opening B3 may be inked before they are brought into contact with the article to he marked. This inking may of course b'e done in any desired manner, and I have shown a simple construction for this purpose.

Referring now to Fig. 4, I provide an inkreservoir E, adapted to be moved under the opening B3, so as to be brought into contactwith the characters exposed through said opening and to be moved up in contact with said characters. This reservoir, as shown, is mounted upon suitable guideways E by means of the wheels E2 and'is provided atits front end with the rollers E2 E, about which is passed the endless belt E5. This endless belt is made of material adapted to become saturated with the ink, such as cloth or the like, and the roller E3 is so positioned that it projects slightly above the upper face of the opening in the ink-reservoir. This permits the endless belt to be brought into contact with the characters on the marki ng-bars. I- prefer to provide a suitable adjusting device E10 for adjusting the face of the roller Espec. that it will be parallel with the faces .of`the' characters on the marking-bars, thus insur# ing the inking of all of said characters. I have found that ordinarily the ink will be drawn up by capillary attraction, so as to saturate the face of the belt opposed to the characters. In order to insure a suicient inkingsof the characters, I provide the roller E3 with a gear E6, adapted to engage a short rack E7 during its movement toward the characters. It will be seen that this engagement between the gear and the rack rotates the rollers and moves the endless belt, so that the part which was submerged belo'w the ink will be brought to the top of the roller, and thus be opposed to the characters. The inking device is moved forward in any desired manner. As herein illustrated, a bell-crank lever Fis connected with the inking device and the table D. This bell-crank lever is provided with a suitable foottread1e Fand a retracting-spring F2. By pressing on the treadle it will be seen that the inking device will be moved forward and will be retracted by the spring F2 when the pressure on the treadle is removed. In view of the peculiar conditions to be met in marking articles for laundries I have found it necessary to use a thin ink. This ink evaporates very rapidly, and to prevent this I provide a means for closing the opening in the reservoir E by bringing said opening against an opposed lid or cover E5, connected with the under side of the supporting device for the marking-bars. The edge of the opening in the ink-reservoir or the opposed facev of the cover E8 is preferably provided with a suitable layer E9 of some soft material which makes a tight joint. In orderjto insure the closing of the opening in the ink-reservoir, I provide each of the guides-E witha suitable block G', having an inclined face, as shown. These blocks are so situated that when the inkreservoir is withdrawn from beneath the opening B2 the-front set of wheels E2, which pass along these guides, engage the inclined faces of the blocks G and move Ythe opening in the ink-reservoir against the cover or lid E, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4. These blocks are so located that the rear set of wheels E2 strike them when the roller E3 is opposite the opening B", and hence the forwardmovelnent of the ink-reservoir is limited. The continued pressure on the foot-treadle, however, tilts the ink-reservoir so as to bring the inking-surface in contact with the characters, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 4. The marking-barsA are provided with a suitable holding device, so that they may be held in any desired position While the marking is being done. I prefer to have this holding device so constructed that the bars may be held with any desired character opposite the opening B3, and I further prefer to have the construction such that the holding device will not prevent the reciprocation of the bars necessary in bringing dil'erent characters opposite the opening It is of course evident that any desired construction for this purpose may be used. As herein shown, I provide a series of pins II, located in any suitable position, preferably opposite the opening B3 and mounted in a holding device H. These pins are preferably provided with springs H2, which normally press them toward the marking-bars and are beveled in any desired manner at the ends, so as to fit into the indentations H3 on the top of the bars.' When this construction is used, the bars may be moved back and forward, the pins H moving in and out of the depressions These depressions are located so that when a pin H fails within one of them on any given barl a character will be opposite the opening B3. I prefer to provide the end of each bar with a pin I, which engages the stop L2 when the bars are in their initial position. This stopL2 may be of any construction and may be located in any desired position, such position depending upon the construction of the machine. -When said bars are in this position, none of the characters are opposite the opening B3. If now itis desired to move a given character opposite the opening 152-, the pin I is grasped and the bar moved outwardly until the desired character is in the desired position. I prefer to provide a tool J, which is provided at its end with a hole, so that it engages the pins I. In vordc'r to facilitate the operation of the device, I prefer to place on the tops of the marking-bars the same characters that are placed beneath them, the two sets of characters being so positioned with relation to each other that when the IOC) marking character on the bottom of the bar is opposite the opening B3 the same character on top of the bar is just in front of the edge of the holding device H. (See Fig. l.) When this arrangement is used, the operator will know that the marking characters are inthe proper position if the bars are moved so that the same characters are in line'in front of the holding device H'. Another means of indieating when the proper marking character is opposite the opening B3 is obtained by placing the characters on a stationary piece at one side of 'the marking-bars--forexample, the piece or pieces B. This is illustrated in Fig. l. Thecharacters in this event are properly spaced and are placed upon a stationary piece in the reverse order. If now the end of the bar is drawn outl to be opposite a given letter on this stationary scale, the same letter on the under side of the bar will be opposite the ropeningfl. It is of course evident that other means for this purpose may be provided., In rro/rder to facilitate the movement of the marking-bars back and forth, I may place at each end thereof` a friction-wheel A5, said frictionwheel bearing upon the face of the supporting-piece B. The marking-bars may be of any desired shape and construction and the characters may be attached thereto or formed thereon in any desired manner. I have shown in the drawings a construction wherein the characters are formed on a strip A6 of comparatively hard rubber. A strip A7 of soft rubber is preferably interposed between the characters and the bar, so that the characters may give `when the article to be marked is pressed against them, and thus compensate for inequalities in tne material to be marked. IVhen this construction is omitted, the saine result may be obtained by providing a suitable cushion for the opposed surface C, upon which the article to be marked is supported. This rubber strip may be vulcanized to the marking-bars or may be attached thereto in any desired e manner. The characters, whether formed of rubber or otherwise, are preferably shaped so that the part which comes in contact with the material to be marked is comparatively thin, so as to form a sharp cleancut engaging edge. This is shown in Fig. 7. When this construction is used, the ink runs down to this sharp engaging edge and hangs there until the material is brought' into contact with the character. The ink thus suspended soaks instantlyinto the cloth or other material to be marked, and' a permanent clean-cut character is produced, which when made with indelible ink is not erased by the .process of washing or by otherwise treating the material. Mounted upon the side pieces V 1li' is a sliding piece L, provided with a suitable handle L. This sliding piece is normally at the cuter end of the pieces B'. A

suitable weight L3' is preferably connected with thc sliding piece L, so as to normally holdit at theend of the side pieces B'. When, for example, the device is being used and a number of loars' are drawn out dierent lengths, they may all be simultaneously returned to. their initial position by moving the sliding piece L forward. During this movement the sliding piece engages the ends of the bars or the pins I and moves them all up against the stop L2. g

The use and operation of my invention are afs-follows: When the device is ready for use,

the ink-reservoir is provided with sufficient ink and the several marking-bars are preferably in their initial pcsition--that is, with the pins I in contact with the stop L2. If now it'is desired to mark pieees-of Wearing-apparel--as, for example, the articles contained in the bundle of a custonier--the-bars are pulled outwardly until 'the characters to be placed on the articles are in their proper position op osite the opening B3. The foottreadle F is then pressed, so as to move the inking device and bring it in contact with the series of characters exposed through said opening. The foot-treadle is then released, and the spring F2 moves the inking device back to its initial position. The article to be marked is then placed upon the opposed surface C, and said opposed surface is moved upwardly by means of the foot-treadle associated therewith, so as to bring the article in contact with the characters on the markingbars. The ink is then taken into the goods and forms the desired characters thereon. The opposed surface is then lowered and the article removed. The several articles upon which similar marks are to be placed are then marked, as above described, and the bars are then moved, so as to change the characters for the articles of the next customer.

I have found in practice that the device herein shown will satisfactorily mark not only fine linen, but heavy rough material, and that this device may be used to mark all wearing-apparel ordinarily sent to laundries.

1. A marking device for laundries, comprisin g a table, a series of horizontal movable pieces substantially parallel with the face of said table, each of said pieces containing a series ofcharacters, a movable part connected with said table .and adapted to support the article to be marked, means for moving sa'id movable part when the article is in position, so as to move said article against the characters on said pieces.

2. '.A'marking deviee,comprising a series of .pieces relatively movable and provided each with a series of characters which face downward when in an operative position, said characters being beveled so as to have a sharp engaging face, an inking device for applying liquid ink to said characters when in their IOO IIO

operative position, the ink being suspended thereon, an opposed surface upon which'the -article' to be marked is placed', and means for bringing the article and the characters into contact While the contact'face of the a.:t.icle is in a substantially horinontal plane, so that the liquid ink is drawn into the substance of the article by the force of gravity.

3. A marking device for wearing-apparel, comprising a series of movable pieces, each having a series of characters thereon facing downward when in their operative position, said characters `formed with, a sharp engaging face, and means for applying liquid ink to said characters so that it will be suspended on said sharp engaging face.

4. A device for marking wearing-apparel, comprising a series of movable pieces, each provided with a series of characters, said pieces adapted to be moved so that any of the characters may be brought opposite an opposed surface upon which the article to be marked is supported, an inking device for inking said characters when opposite said opposed surface, said inking device comprising a reservoir containing liquid ink, means for moving saidreservoir opposite said characters when they are in their operative position, and a device adapted tobe saturated with ink contained within said reservoir, said device adapted to make contact with theA characters so as to ink them.

5. A device for marking wearing-apparel, comprising a series of pieces, each containingr a series of marking characters, an opposed surface upon which the article to be marked is placed, said pieces adapted to be moved so `that any desired character may be brought opposite said opposed surface, an inking device for inking said characters when in their operative position, said inking device comprising a reservoir adapted to contain liquid ink, two rollers in said reservoir, one projecting slightly above the mouthwthereof, and a belt of material adapted to be saturated with the ink passing around said rollers, and means for moving said reservoir so that said belt is brought into contact with said characters.

(i. A device for marking wearing-apparel, comprising a series ot' pieces, each containing a series of marking characters, an opposed surface upon which the article to be marked is placed, said pieces adapted to be moved so that any desired character may be brought opposite said opposed surface, an inking device for inking said characters when in their operative position, said inking'device comprising a reservoir adapted to contain liquid ink, two rollersin said reservoir, one projecting slightly above the mouth thereof, and a belt of material adapted to be saturated with the ink passing around said rollers, means for moving said reservoir so that'said belt is broughtinto contact with said characters, and a lid for said reservoir adapted to normally cover the same so as to reduce the evaporation of the ink. l

7. A markingdeviceforlaundries, comprising a table, a series nf independent pieces mounted in proximity to the face'of said table, so as to be separated therefrom by an intervening space, said pieces each provided with a series of characters, a support or partition between the table and said independent pieces, an opening in said partition through which the characters can be successively exposed, a movable part on said table adapted to support the article to be marked, an inking device adapted to be moved so as to ink the characters exposed through the opening in said partition, and means for moving said support so as to bring the article thereon in contact with the exposed characters.

S. A marking device for wearing-apparel, comprising a series of movable pieces having characters thereon, so that they may be arranged with reference to each other to pro- 'duce any desired group of characters; said characters facing downward when in their` operative position, and an inking device for applying liquid ink, and adapted for that purpose to move across the face of the characters, a platen opposed to the characters and a suitable frame for supporting the several parts.

A marking device for wearing-apparel comprising a suitable supporting-frame, a lower vertically-movable platen, a series of movable pieces provided with characters so that any desired group of characters can be arranged, said characters adapted when in their operative position to face downward to-` ward the platen, a means for applying liquid ink, said inking apparatus adapted to cross the face of the characters between them and the platen.

WILLIAM R. MORSE.

Witnesses:

DONALD M. CARTER, lIoMER L. KRAFT. 

